After the fatal fall of a teenager last month, following post-vaccination discomfort at school, the Medicines Safety Agency is adjusting its recommendations.
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The vaccination campaign against human papillomavirus for 5th year voluntary secondary school students, launched at the beginning of October in France, is continuing. But the Medicines Agency (ANSM) has updated the “post-vaccination surveillance” instructions for health professionals due to the death of a teenager at the end of October 2023 in Loire-Atlantique.
After any vaccination, doctors and nurses usually ask the patient to remain seated in a chair for around fifteen minutes to monitor any discomfort or allergic reaction. However, in Saint-Herblain, in Loire-Atlantique, a teenager vaccinated at school against the papillomavirus became unwell during this surveillance period. He then fell heavily backwards from his chair and landed on his head. Victim of head trauma, he died a few days later.
“Uncommon” discomfort
To prevent such a tragedy from happening again, the Medicines Safety Agency is now asking that adolescents remain, for around fifteen minutes, lying on blankets or floor mats or sitting on the floor, leaning against a wall and in an open space.
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The ANSM specifies that this type of discomfort is “rare”, without serious consequences. And that the vaccine against papillomaviruses, the cause of many cancers such as cervical cancer, is safe. It has been injected into adolescents and young adults for more than 15 years. 300 million doses have already been administered worldwide, including more than 12 million in France.